The US Senate is poised to pass the USA Freedom Act now that major surveillance powers vested in the USA Patriot Act have expired. The House-passed bill, representing a slightly less intrusive spying law, will come to a vote on Tuesday.

The Senate let certain parts of the USA Patriot Act lapse,
failing to extend then by the June 1 deadline. Among them is the
notorious Section 215, authorizing bulk collection of Americans’
telephone data, which a federal court ruled illegal earlier this month. According
to government officials, it has been used almost 200 times per
year. Other provisions that expired enable the government to
conduct “roving wiretaps” of suspects who switch
communication devices, or spy on “lone wolf” individuals
who are not affiliated with an international terrorism
organization.

The National Security Agency used Section 215 of the Patriot Act
as the basis for collecting vast troves of phone records of
Americans, who weren’t necessarily under official investigation.
It was also used to track financial data and to obtain companies'
internet business records. The extent of the mass surveillance
program was revealed nearly two years ago by NSA whistleblower
Edward Snowden.

Now, the Senate will address a so-called reform bill pushed by
opponents of the expiring Patriot Act provisions. The USA Freedom
Act, passed by the House in a 338-88 vote on May
13.

Supporters of the USA Freedom Act in the Senate say they are
hopeful that the bill will pass this week.

"This is a good day for the American people,"said Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican sponsor of
the USA Freedom Act. "I do believe we have the votes. The
question is not whether we will get this passed, but when."

The bill, however, would require phone companies to maintain
phone records that the government could later search. The
legislation also includes provisions for “roving
wiretaps” and “lone wolf” surveillance demanded by
the FBI and the US Department of Justice.

“This is the only realistic way forward,” Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday of the USA Freedom Act. McConnell
had fought to revive the expiring Patriot Act provisions but was
thwarted, in part, by opposition led by Sen. Rand Paul.

The “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism” (USA PATRIOT) Act was adopted in October 2001,
six weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks. Its most recent
extension was in 2011.

The law allowed US intelligence agencies to amass bulk
collections of various business records that were deemed
"relevant" to a national security investigation. Yet, a
US Department of Justice Inspector General report released in
late May revealed that the FBI “did not identify
any major case developments that resulted from use of the records
obtained in response to Section 215 orders.” That finding
was echoed by both the Obama administration's own Presidential Review Group and the independent
Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.

The law's critics, such as Senator Paul, say the Patriot Act's
surveillance powers amounted to a deep government intrusion into
the lives of innocent Americans.

The USA Freedom Act would move the responsibility of holding
phone records to private companies. Intelligence agencies like
the NSA would then ask the companies for specific data on an
individual allegedly connected to a terror group or foreign
nation.

The Act also requires heightened transparency measures associated
with government data searches, and it would allow tech companies
to be more forthcoming regarding how many times they are tapped
for data by government agencies. The bill also offers more access
to case opinions made by judges of the secretive Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has oversight over
surveillance of suspects overseas.

Many in opposition to the Patriot Act say the USA Freedom Act is
not a meaningful check on government spying capabilities. A
leading critic of government surveillance in the US House,
Rep.Justin Amash (R-Mich.) described the Freedom Act as a
“step in the wrong direction by specifically authorizing such
collection in violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

Others have pointed out that the USA Freedom Act will not address
other surveillance powers the government can employ. Should the
Senate approve the reform bill, “it’ll be suspicionless
spying as usual until the next big surveillance provision,
section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act sunsets at the end of
2017,"said Jennifer Granick, director of Civil
Liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society.

Edward Snowden revealed the government uses Section 702 of the
FISA Amendments Act to authorize digital surveillance on foreign
persons, which, tech experts say has involved exploiting security
weaknesses on behalf of the government and, as a result, secretly
undermining the protocols meant to protect online activity.

“Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act conceals some of the
worst mass surveillance operations,” he said recently. “In basic terms, the government
here prefers to ignore that the 4th Amendment prohibits not just
the unwarranted search of private records, but also the initial
seizure of them as well. I suspect that's likely to haunt not
only them, but all of us as well.”

Snowden also pointed to Executive Order 12333, signed by
President Ronald Reagan in 1981, which requires government
agencies to comply with data requests made by the CIA. He said
the order, which has been used to justify the collection of
unencrypted material, is a “skeleton in the closet,” but
that changing it will be difficult “because the White House
argues these operations are simply above the law and cannot be
regulated by congress or the courts.”

Several civil liberties advocates are strictly opposing the USA
Freedom Act because it does not go far enough in curbing
unchecked surveillance.

"The sacrifices made by the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 are
unacceptable," wrote several groups and intelligence
community whistleblowers in a letter urging a vote against the
reform bill.

"The modest changes within this bill, in turn, fail to reform
mass surveillance, of Americans and others, conducted under
Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 and Executive
Order 12333. Given intelligence agencies’ eagerness to subvert
any attempts by Congress to rein in massive surveillance programs
by changing the legal authorities under which they operate, the
modest, proposed changes are no reform at all."